


Do Your Best

by AnjuAddams



Category: American McGee's Alice, Fate/Grand Order, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Genre: Family, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2019-03-30 12:46:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13951842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnjuAddams/pseuds/AnjuAddams
Summary: Despite having a new family in Chaldea, a loving mother and a kind sister, Nursery Rhyme was still sad. Without her Alice by her side, what worth was she? She wanted to see Alice again, even if it was impossible. But, when a new Servant who calls herself Alice arrives one day, Nursery Rhyme will have to do all she can to save Chaldea and Alice's Wonderland from certain destruction.





	Do Your Best

_**AN:** _ _Based on a silly little idea I had, of what would happen if two very different Alices were to meet and how Nursery Rhyme went from a creepy emotionless doll in Fate/Extra to a happy little girl in Fate/Grand Order. It ended up a lot sadder than I thought. I was inspired by the famous one-shot series 'Fragments of Chaldea' by GhostXavier with several elements being lifted from his portrayal of Chaldean life. This was originally designed to be a oneshot, but grew so long, I decided to split it up into two chapters._

 **_Disclaimer_ ** _: All copyrighted materials belong to their respective creators and are not owned by me, including the depiction of Chaldean life, Gudao and Gabrielle Rutherford who all belong to GhostXavier whose work is awesome!_

* * *

**_Do Your Best_ **

**_An American McGee's Alice & Fate/Grand Order Tale_ **

**_Chapter 1_ **

**_by Anju Addams_ **

* * *

_"Here's a riddle: When is a croquet mallet like a billy club? I'll tell you: whenever you want it to be."_

_\- The Cheshire Cat (American McGee's Alice)_

* * *

It had been a long time since the events in London, well, for her anyway. For most of the other Servants, especially those who had been on the side of the Chaldea Organisation during the singularity, it had been only a few months, a few months in which countless other singularities, big and small had cropped up and they had gone on many more adventures, the time spent in London fading into relative obscurity, as the young Masters, Gudao and Gabrielle lead the Servants towards the final battle against Solomon, wherever the horrid man might be hiding.

But the Servant who once called herself Alice did not forget, no, she never forgot, never anything nor anyone. No matter how many hundreds of Grail Wars it had taken her to reach Chaldea, she had never forgotten London. Nor had she ever forgotten the era before, in another time, and another place, with another Master. That certain Master that she kept fond in her heart, and whose form she now wore in eternal tribute, even if that girl was just a ghost, the facade of a person long since gone. Alice, no, it was Nursery Rhyme now, she reminded herself, would never ever lose sight of that girl who had treated her so kindly, and who she had watched die once more.

She had accepted that then, alongside the Alice who had always known she was going to go away. Nursery Rhyme had accepted herself then, an image in the looking glass, a fake Alice who wore someone's face and skin because she was nothing more than an imaginary figure of the real thing, an embodiment of the stories that children read, then forgot when they had grown up and discarded their childhood and broken dreams behind. She had accepted then, that the next time she would appear, bound to another Master, her appearance and also her personality would be warped and twisted into another formation, another tale, another story and that in the end, the who she was then, would be lost forever, nothing more than a memory that would be lost eternally to her.

Then, somehow, by some miracle, she hadn't. She always remembered, and she would always be an Alice from then on. Even if it was a fake, born from the delusions of a little girl who should have stayed dead, long, long ago, born from a book that had enforced itself in her mind as one of the only happy memories she'd ever had. A fanciful tale from the mind of a simple mathematician who had wanted to see a young girl's smile. Nursery Rhyme tried to be happy too, so she smiled a lot more, despite the fact that it was only on the outside. It was getting easier, the time she'd been a part of Chaldea, becoming more and more enjoyable. She'd gotten a beautiful sister in Jackie and a wonderful mother in Atalanta. It was all she'd ever dreamed of, and yet...

She missed her Alice.

It _ **hurt.**_

So very,  _ **very** ,_ much.

But her Alice could never come here. She wasn't a Servant and hadn't done anything worthy of ascending to the Throne. Nursery Rhyme had waited a lifetime, or perhaps several, waiting for the reunion that never came. Nevertheless here, in Chaldea, she still waited, faithfully, for the arrival of the one person she loved more than the world itself. She waited for a person she knew was never going to arrive and with that, Nursery Rhyme could not accept her own strength as a Servant.

Alice had been her everything, her rock that she clung to in a stormy sea, who'd always believed in Nursery Rhyme's strength to get them through the terrible Grail War that followed suit soon after. In a world without that Alice, who trusted in her so lovingly, and without question, Nursery Rhyme could no believe in herself. How could she, surely, that after Alice had been proven wrong about her Servants strength, believe in her own power.

She was given further proof about her self-doubt during the ensuing Grail Wars she had experienced after her passing in the Moon Cell. Without Alice by her side, she'd been nearly useless, unable to protect her Masters with her abysmal abilities and much worse combat skills, leaving her to be defeated immediately without a single chance. Nursery Rhyme saw it as evidence that she was really was a fake, a silly child playing some overdrawn game of pretending. Why, she couldn't use the Nameless Forest Noble Phantasm anymore!

That depressive attitude stuck with her even in Chaldea, and she'd scurried away from trying to fight alongside Gudao or Gabrielle and declining any offers regarding it. It had led to some severe sessions of self-loathing and locking herself away in her room for days on end, talking and seeing no-one, including her fellow literature companions, Shakespeare and that hateful, miserable fool, Andersen.

People had noticed of course, the subtle changes in the front she kept up for Jackie's sake, especially Mama Atalanta and Master Gabrielle. She'd tried to keep her moods hidden, but whenever it was a women's intuition or just pure perceptiveness, they always seemed to know when she was feeling quite blue. During those dark, dismal days, she tried to avoid them as much as she could, content to rest her head, just for a little bit, and remember the good times. It was also times like that, that she found herself wondering, wondering of other possibilities and other things that crammed themselves painfully into her memories. "I am a fake," she'd told her old enemy, the female NPC, Hakuno Kishinami, as she lay down to die, wondering why she had been crying, why she could somehow cry at all. "The real, true Alice is a mystery, even to me."

And she was.

The real, true Alice, the real, true Alice Pleasance Liddell had died decades ago, long before her own Alice had lived, and died, during the horrors of the Blitz. Nursery Rhyme, despite being an embodiment of the book she'd inspired did not know anything about her at all. And so, she thought, deep and hard about the girl who was herself, and yet, not. Had she been happy? Did she have a family? Was Wonderland somehow real, or was it nothing more than some stupid little dream of a stupid little girl on a golden afternoon? She wanted to know. But, if she could never meet her Alice ever again, the other Alice, the real one, the one who was also herself, and at the same time, a different person entirely, would surely come here right? She was famous enough, and if someone as tiny and as unnoteworthy like Abigail Williams, who had only been a tiny footnote in a single paragraph of one country's history, could appear and be summoned here, then surely, that meant that Alice Pleasance Liddell could too.

Right?

* * *

"Oh, there you are Nursery Rhyme," a familiar voice called out in the relative quiet of Chaldea's own library. The Caster-class Servant, who'd been avoiding any sort of interactions over the last few days, turned away from her copy of Cinderella and looked into Gabrielle's large amber eyes. "I've been looking for you, you know," the Master continued. "Atalanta's been looking all over for you since we came back from that new singularity, since she wanted to introduce you to the new Servant that's been helping us out with it. I think you'd like her!"

"Ah..." Nursery Rhyme murmured softly in realisation. While she hadn't known about the new Servant who'd apparently joined up very recently, she was aware of the newest singularity that had materialised over the last week or so. After its detection by SHEBA, both Gudao and Gudako (as Gabrielle preferred to be called) along with a few Servants, had gone to resolve whatever troubles were occurring in that era of the world's history. Including Mama Atalanta and Jackie. Of course, they'd tried to drag Nursery Rhyme along, who'd forcefully declined and vanished from sight. As she'd been holed up in the library since then, the news about another resident in Chaldea had yet to be broken to her. "...Okay," she continued. "Mama Atalanta wanted us to meet...why?"

Gabrielle smiled gently and reached out to pat Nursery Rhyme's lavender hair. "You've been stuck in here all week, and she was getting worried. She kept complaining about you the whole time, you know." She pulled back her hand to wag an accusing finger. "Don't think I've not noticed either! I know you like books but it's getting concerning now...we're all getting really worried. It's not healthy, Alice."

Nursery Rhyme glared back at her Master. "Not Alice. I'm Nursery Rhyme. Go away, I'm busy." Ignoring Gabrielle's admittedly cute pout, she went back to being absorbed into a world of Fairy Godmothers and Prince Charmings. Or, tried to, at least, since Gabrielle suddenly slammed the book closed. The Caster went back to glaring accusingly. "Stop that. I'm not going. You can't make me, so there." Why didn't the Master understand that she just wanted to be left alone in peace? Here, in the library, she could be distracted from her thoughts about Alice.

Gabrielle was not deterred by her Servant's attitude, however, giving the girl a smug grin. "Well...I've got something interesting to tell you!" she teased lightly, her eyes glinting mischievously. "That new Servant reminded me a lot like you, in fact, she also has the same name! Alice Pleasance Liddell! That's pretty cool right, I think she'll like-" she continued to speak, but Nursery Rhyme wasn't listening anymore.

The moment that Gabby had said those words, and spoken that name, her heart had leapt in her wooden chest. Could it be? Was it, after all this time, her the real one who was somehow herself? Was it finally time for her to meet the one she most desperately wanted to meet, just after her own Alice? Her name was Alice Pleasance Liddell! It had to be the one!

Letting her chair bang harshly against the floor as she leapt up, the girl swayed dizzily in a daze as she clutched a whitened hand at the fabric as a black dress, right above her pounding heart. It was strange, she wondered, her thoughts muddy, this feeling of...of, something she couldn't quite describe. A feeling of something so wrong, and yet so right, a feeling of excitement, of longing and...impatience? What...was this? Was it...?

It was hope, she knew then.

For the first time in her existence, she was feeling hope.

"Show me." she declared, grasping tightly on Gabby's white shirt, ceasing the orange-haired girl's endless babble about Alice. Nursery Rhyme found herself wishing she'd heard the rest of the conversation, but that could wait. Now, all she wanted was to meet them. She could find out more about the Servant from the actual one anyway. "Hurry up." she insisted, now forcibly dragging Gabrielle from the room towards the corridor. "Let's go already."

"Woah! Slow down there, Nursery!" Gabrielle exclaimed as she stumbled after the girl leading her onwards. It was quite a sight, she'd never seen the little stoic book be so excited in the months that she been in Chaldea. She knew that Nursery Rhyme had some weird fixation on the name Alice, refusing to be known by the title unless it was either Atalanta or Jack the Ripper being the ones saying it. Along with the weird Wonderland fetish thing she had going on, the girl made for a bizarre Servant. But, to think that finding out that there was another Servant who had the same name as you would cause the girl to act so out of character was a major surprise! No one else had been...

Huh.

Actually, now that she was thinking about it, hadn't the Avenger version Joan and the male version of Arturia acted in the same manner when they'd arrived? Eh, it didn't matter either way as long as Nursery Rhyme finally got out of the silly funk she'd been in. "You don't have to rush," the Master spoke up again. "She'll still be in the same place, she's not going to just disappear just like that! Besides, you don't know where she is, do you? I haven't told you yet." Stopping in her tracks, the doll turned back to look at Gabrielle with impatient eyes.

"Show me. Hurry up." the Servant repeated more forcefully, attempting to push Gabrielle forwards. The Master thankfully took the hint and began to walk in front, leading them down the white-walled corridors. Not a single soul passed them by as they walked, quite strange for a place as busy as Chaldea normally was. Nursery Rhyme who regularly walked this way herself towards the library would often be greeted daily by the numerous staff members, Servants and the robots that maintained the facilities themselves, but now it was as quiet as a grave. Perhaps, the Servant wondered, that it would be because everyone was as curious as she was about this 'Alice', and they too had made their way to wherever she might be. It was making Nursery Rhyme's insides squirm uncomfortably. She wanted to be there now! "Where are we going?" she finally asked after a moment of silence.

"Getting excited aren't you?" Gabrielle told her with a wink. "Well, no need to worry, she's at Marie's restaurant right now. We asked her to wait there and meet the other Servants while we went and got you. I think it's gonna be a big shock for her too, meeting you for the first time. She's been such a big help though, during the current singularity, ever since she first saved us from some of these weird banshee-like creatures. Boojums, she called them...She showed up, right out of nowhere and sliced them all down so quickly with that eerie knife of hers. Though of course, she IS a Foreigner, they kinda have the power to back up that claim."

Nursery Rhyme nodded her head in agreement. So this Alice was a Foreigner? How...odd. It wasn't too much of a leap to make, what with the nature of the original book, and of Wonderland being an insane madhouse of colourful characters, but the doll had always imagined other Alices to be more of a Caster like herself, or perhaps a Saber, due to a few adaptations of the novel featuring the girl wielding the legendary Vorpal Sword, the slayer of the monstrous Jabberwock, at least once. Still, it just went to show how you couldn't predict people's true nature. Who would have thought that Florence Nightingale of all people was classified under a Berserker class for example?

Following up that thought, she wondered what this version of Alice would look like. Would she be a young girl with long blonde hair in a blue dress and a pinafore, just like her depiction in the original animated film by Disney, or would she look more like her true self, with short brown hair, pink dressed and smirking, just as she appeared in the photographs captured by Charles Dodgson? It was certainly a mystery since Servants were influenced by the vision of people around them, as Thomas Edison could attest to. "Curiouser and curiouser." she muttered to herself, ignoring her companion's muffled laughter at hearing the famous phrase.

"Well, that cinches it!" the Master cried, elated to have figured out Nursery Rhyme's sudden swing in mood. "I thought that you and Foreigner might have had something more in common than your name. You must be related in some way right, with the whole Wonderland thing you've got going on? I didn't think that you would be related in that way, but I've never read the books or seen the movies, I've just heard things here and there. Especially that phrase, 'curiouser and curiouser', that part I know about. Foreigner used it earlier when we showed her around, and now having heard you, Nursery...well, no wonder you're excited. I didn't think that there WAS a real Alice, I just thought she was something made up."

"No, Alice is real." Nursery Rhyme told the older girl as they rounded the corner onto the Salon de Marie's hallway. "We are the same and yet, we aren't. I want to meet her, the me that made me, myself. Alice Pleasance Liddell, Charles Dodgson's so-called inspiration, who lived and who died before I ever came into existence, is a mystery to myself, even though we share the same story in our hearts. My Alice loved that tale, so that means I do too."

Gabrielle was silent for a moment as they stopped just outside the doors to the Chaldean restaurant. "All this talk of Alices is making my head spin, but I think I get it," she said, before pointing at Nursery. "YOU'RE Alice, who's an incarnation of the nursery rhymes and literature made for children." Then she pointed at the doors behind her. "In there is the real Alice, the one who inspired the writer of Alice in Wonderland to write the book. Then there's the Alice FROM that book, the one who went to Wonderland. Finally, there's your Alice, who was your Master in a previous Grail War, who you were very close to. Am I right?"

"Yes." Nursery affirmed. "But I'm not Alice, so call me Nursery Rhyme now. I don't want to be called that name anymore. It's not mine, so don't." Gabrielle gave a sad smile but confirmed that she would with a sharp nod. Nursery gave her a thankful look before gesturing to the door, glad that the uncomfortable moment was over. "Can we go in already?" As if answering, the orange-haired Master pushed the fancy French-styled wooden doors open, waving Nursery Rhyme, who stepped through into the room proper, with Gabrielle towing along behind.

Hearing the doors slam shut, the other occupants of the large room turned towards them, Nursery Rhyme shifting on her feet as she was stared at. When she'd wondered earlier if the other residents of Chaldea had all gathered up to meet the newest member, she'd hadn't actually thought that would happen. From her vantage point at the front, she could see the multitude of people quite easily. As always, EMIYA and Tamamo no Mae, the two chefs, were standing behind the bar alongside the restaurant's owner and it's namesake, Marie Antoinette.

Nearby, seated around, quite ironically, a roundtable, were the Arthurian Knights, her other Master, Gudao, and his girlfriend, the first Servant of Chaldea, Mashu, an uncomfortable looking Mordred, alongside a nervous Henry Jekyll, and of course, the male, female, Lancer, and Alter versions of King Arthur, the orginal female of which was leant over as if attempting to talk to residents of the next table, which consisted of the hooded Kiritsugu EMIYA, his beautiful alternative universe wife, Irisviel von Einzbern, their magical girl daughters, Illyasviel and Chloe, the mischevous looking jaguar-teacher Taiga Fujimura, and the two goddesses of love, Ishtar and Parvati, who were currently borrowing the bodies of Shirou Emiya's close friend Rin Tohsaka and his girlfriend, Sakura Matou. Shirou himself, who was currently possessed by the legendary swordsmith, Muramasa, was seated a bit away, having apparently been in the middle of a conversation with Zhuge Liang and Iskander the Great, before Nursery Rhyme's arrival had distracted him.

There were others of course, but Nursery Rhyme could not care about that right now. "Where is she?" she asked the room at large. "Where is Alice?" Several of the others turned to look at each other in surprise, having not known the quiet lonely girl to be so forcible until now. "I want to meet her." she relayed for what felt like the hundredth time today. Luckily, she did not have to wait much longer, as Mama Atalanta appeared from a corner of the room and made her way over, with a beaming smile on her face. She was clearly happy that the Caster had decided to come out of her self-imposed exile.

"Thanks, Master." the Greek Archer told Gabrielle. "I'm glad to see she's finally out of there. Now, as for you," she continued, taking Nursery Rhyme's little hand in her own. "It's nice to see you up and about for once, and I'm just happy it was much sooner than later. As for Alice, well, she's just over here." Atalanta led the doll over to a small table situated at the back, where there sat a tall figure. As the figure turned at their arrival, Nursery Rhyme gazed into the face of the one who claimed to be the real, true Alice.

She was much different than what Nursery had been expecting, and yet, very similar indeed. Like the real Alice, she had thick, luscious brown hair, that was, instead of being cut into a short bob, curled loosely around her shoulders, highlighting her pale, homely features and a frightening pair of sharp green eyes that bore into her. Also, unlike what she'd seen in old photographs and illustrations, the Servant was wearing the iconic blue dress from her tale alongside a white pinafore, bearing the symbols of Eris and Jupiter on the pockets, which was for some odd reason, splattered with small flecks of dried blood. A pair of thigh high boots and striped tights joined the dress with an omega symbol necklace hanging from the girl's neck to complete the look. All in all, she cut a very striking figure, that could not be mistaken for being a version of Alice.

Both Servants studied each other, taking in their differing appearances before the Foreigner glanced over at Atalanta. "And, what is this?" she questioned in a perfect English-laced accent. "Is this another one of these Servants you have running around? Hmph, what an odd child." With hands on hips, she leant down to look closer at Nursery Rhyme. "Just who are you? Some kind of phantasmagoria, I presume?"

"I'm you." was all Nursery Rhyme said.

The Foreigner blinked in confusion. "Is this some sort of joke?" she asked, looking around at the other patrons accusingly. "I certainly do not appreciate such childish pranks! Me, indeed...why, I've never heard such a more foolish thing! For one, we look nothing alike, and I certainly don't remember having such an odd shade of violet in my hair." she told Nursery, scrunching her eyebrows up. "Then again...I DID have blonde hair when I was much younger. Perhaps, no...too absurd."

Nursery Rhyme sulked inwardly at the woman's response. Whatever she may have thought about Alice's appearance, the attitude and sharp, caustic tongue were not something she would associate with the story of Alice Liddell. Usually, Alice was someone with a vivid imagination and a permanent head in the clouds that lead her into more trouble. This Alice was just...weird.

"Sorry," she apologised. "It's not a joke. I AM you, and you are me. Can't you see?" To prove her point, she reached out with her magic and summoned her real body into existence, letting her heavy pages slam into the table-top. "Told you." her doll form spoke up, pointing to the image of the blonde Alice and the cartoony Cheshire Cat that emblazoned the cover of 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.' "That's me."

Alice, however, did not look pleased as her face paled drastically, becoming a grim shade of white. "That book..." she cried. "I never thought I would see that thing again in all my years. My God, this can't be happening!" As she grew more distraught and began to shake violently, Atalanta moved in and wrapped her arms around Alice in a comforting hug. Alice's struggled in the tight grip and eventually began thrashing wildly in an attempt to get away. Atalanta did not release her hold on the Foreigner, whispering words of comfort in her ear, and soon, the brunette ceased her throes and settled into Atalanta's arms. "I'm sorry about that," she said, clearly embarrassed by her previous actions. "That book tends to bring back bad memories..."

"There's nothing to be sorry about, Alice." Atalanta protested with a smile. "It's our fault for not letting you know about our Alice in the first place, we should have been more careful. You aren't the only person here who've been traumatised at some point, I mean, just look at ME." Letting out a deep sigh, Alice relaxed visibly, picking up a steaming cup of tea that had been at her side, taking a large gulp of it.

"You couldn't possibly have known of my afflictions," she said after swallowing. "While it's certainly true that I am the Alice who inspired the good Reverend Dodgson to write that book, the reality of the matter is much more horrifying than you could ever imagine. I have no wish to speak of it, or of Wonderland for the time being." she turned sad eyes towards Nursery Rhyme. "Please, I mean you no trouble, but I would like to be left alone for the moment, we can speak later little me." And before the Caster could answer, the strange girl burst into a flock of brilliant blue butterflies that fluttered out the room, leaving an empty seat and a half drank teacup.

Nursery Rhyme followed her example. "I'm going back to the library," she said without emotion. "Don't bother me." She should have known from the start that everything would go wrong, just like it always did. She wondered why she'd even bothered in the first place.

* * *

Nursery Rhyme was still sulking over the next few days as well, as nothing had changed on the Alice front. The brunette foreigner was still avoiding her anytime that the doll had tried to greet her in the corridors as they passed by each other. Whether if it was by Alice bursting into butterflies, or simply ignoring her, it still hurt Nursery Rhyme and she was slowly getting worse. And she didn't know why, just why the Foreigner didn't want her anywhere near.

Nursery just wanted to talk and learn the history of the real Alice, not from some book, but from the person themselves, and still, the girl refused to speak with her. Several times Nursery had approached the Servant's private quarters and knocked on the door for several hours to no avail. Trying to catch Alice in the cafeteria was no use either, as the girl didn't show or vanished as soon as she spotted Nursery. And when she wasn't in her room or in the cafeteria, she'd be busy with the current singularity, the one she had appeared from, as if she was hurriedly trying to get away faster.

Then, as if answering her prayers, about a week after the two Alices had met, Nursery Rhyme was able to meet someone who knew the other Alice very well indeed. It happened one afternoon when she was making her way to the cafeteria in another one of her tries to get Alice to sit down and speak with her. Though she doubted it would happen, she would at least try.

 **"Well now, what do you call yourself? Alice is it?"**  came a voice from behind her. It was an unfamiliar one, a deep masculine rumble that she generally only heard from the Berserker Servants. Cautiously, she turned around to face the owner of the mysterious voice, then jumped almost a foot backwards when she saw what had crept up without her noticing. It was a frighteningly large cat, about the same size as herself, hairless and bony, with countless tattoos painted on its skeletal form. A large hoop earring was fixated in the cat's ear, and it regarded her with a pair of freakish eyes and a terrible grin, filled with large, and sharp yellowed teeth that seemed to brighten and dim on a loop.  **"Don't worry about me girl."** it continued. **"I have no intent to harm you. I only wish to...help. Allow me to introduce myself."** it waved a paw around lazily before pointing it towards itself.  **"You can call me the Cheshire Cat. I'm sure you've heard of me."**

Of course, Nursery Rhyme had heard of the Cheshire Cat. Who at this point hadn't? Even people who didn't know or weren't familiar with any version of Alice's tale had at least heard of the disappearing feline. Though, she didn't think that he would be so...mangy. She'd imagined him more of how he'd appeared in the live-action version that had been released a few years ago. She'd enjoyed it enough, although it wasn't at all faithful to the original book. At least this cat wanted to help, apparently, unlike the more crueller and mischievous version that Sir Disney had portrayed in his animated film. But, help with what?

 **"With Alice of course,"** he answered, seemingly reading her mind.  **"Since she's met you, life has not been going so well for her, or for us, for that matter. Yet again she insists on hiding from the problem, which only causes more problems. For us, of course."**

**"Something is terribly wrong within Alice at the moment, a cancer that needs to be exorcised, one which will only grow worse the longer she avoids you. We fear that as long as she continues down this path, Alice will lose herself to madness once more, when she comes to the end of this journey and sees who is waiting at the final hurdle. Only by seeking you out can she hope to rectify this."**

"But, why me?" Nursery Rhyme asked. "She doesn't want to see me or talk. How would I help?" The Cheshire Cat kept on smiling, before it suddenly winked out of existence, and reappeared a few feet down the corridor nearby to a room she recognised as Alice's. Then, with his tail, he beckoned the Caster over. "What is it?" she wondered out loud.

 **"Alice has been through much pain and anguish in her life, just as you have, other Alice."** the cat revealed teasingly.  **"As much as she hides from the truth, you are the same. Like you, she had someone she loved taken away from her in the worst possible manner. Like you, she has fought for her right to exist. Yet, she remains just as dim-witted and as foolish as she was when she was a child, even if she has picked up an attitude."** he said, pausing to catch some invisible breath.

 **"Now..."**  he started up.  **"You must listen carefully, for I shall speak the truth without regard to consequence; without your help by her side, more grief and guilt will follow her way, unless something is done. Wonderland is changing once more, and not for the better. Things there have begun to stir, and a terrible evil is on the rise just as times past. I have no desire to lose my head again, so I implore you; seek out Alice and let her speak, let your words and presence temper her mind and calm her soul. If not, then..."**  With a swing of his tail, he pushed Alice's door ajar, revealing a tremendous sight.

Where Alice's room would have once been was a swirling blue portal cutting through reality as if it were completely normal, through which Nursery Rhyme could see an enormous forest with blades of grass and flowers the size of trees and mushrooms as large as mountains. A great rushing river cut through the landscape, carving a path that led it past a statue carved into rock. A statue she noticed, looking closely, resembled a crying Alice. It was somehow...gloomy. In fact, the whole place was gloomy altogether, the grass, flowers and mushrooms coloured a deep grey, surrounded by a thick, swallowing fog that limited her vision. Whatever this place was, however beautiful it may have been, now it looked...well, dead.

"Where is that?" she asked the pussycat. "Why does it look so sad and gloomy?"

 **"That place,"** began the Chesire Cat. **"Is none other than Alice's beloved Wonderland, the world you have seen in your dreams. This place you see now was once a tranquil paradise for the residents of Wonderland, but now, it is slowly becoming corrupted again.** **Madness inhabits Alice, like a bee inhabits a hive, and she refuses to see that truth. She has not yet visited her world in the time she has been here, but one day, she shall, and by then it may be too late."** As he finished, he gestured towards the portal which slowly closed, Alice's ordinary bedroom fading back into view.  **"Do you understand now, other Alice?"**

"I do." Nursery Rhyme replied. "I'll try. I promise." The Cheshire Cat nodded in approval, and with a wink, vanished from the corridor entirely.

 **"Then I shall leave you to it, other Alice."** his voice lingered, echoing.  **"For the sake of all Wonderland, I wish you the best of luck. You'll need it."**

The young girl lingered outside Alice's room for a few seconds. Then suddenly, she took a deep breath and stalked down the corridor to the cafeteria, at a much quicker pace than previously. She had no time to waste. After all, she was late, late, for a  ** _very_**  important date.

* * *

_**AN:**  Since I like putting notes at the end of chapters, let's get started with the timeline of this particular story. Since 'Fragments of Chaldea' has introduced Servants from events long after the defeat of Solomon, this is the case here. Romani and Da Vinci are still searching for the Solomon Singularity, though the events of the sub-singularities afterwards; Shinjuku, Agartha, Shimosanokuni and Salem have all already happened, owing to the presence of Abigail Williams and Shirou Emiya/Muramasa in Chaldea._

_In main storyline, this story occurs after the Babylon chapter as well, Tiamat having been defeated a few months ago. As for Alice's timeline, this story takes place after her death (obviously) which occurred like her real-life counterpart, in 1934. Other things from the real Alice's history will also make their way into this fanfic, which may end up contradicting American McGee's established canon slightly, but I wanted to have Alice be a mixture of the game character and her historical self._

_Also, you may ask, why is Alice a Foreigner, as aren't Foreigners supposed to be connected to the Older Gods of the Cthulhu Mythos? Well, Wonderland could be considered an Eldritch Location based on the nature of it in American McGee's Alice. And, hey, the place has enough tentacles!_

_Since this is a short story, there isn't any romance, but I always like to slip in a few ships here and there which will be hinted at, but not important overall. Of course, we have the ship between Gudao and Mashu which is hinted at in canon Fate/Grand Order, and has become canon in 'Fragments of Chaldea.' I really like this ship, so it stays in this fanfic. As well as that one, there is the ship between Mordred and Jekyll, which is another GhostXavier pairing I like._

_Most divisively is the Shirou Emiya and Sakura Matou pairing, which due to the popularity of the Unlimited Blade Works anime which pairs Rin and Shirou together, isn't as well known amongst the anime-only fandom. As someone who read the original visual novel way back in the day and fell in love with the Heaven's Feel route, thus making Shirou/Sakura my OTP, I had to have it in. I hope you don't mind._

_Anyway, that's enough rambling. I'll leave you alone now, and if you have any questions, leave them in a PM or a review, and I'll answer them in the next chapter! Thanks for reading!_


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